Federal Extortion and Racketeering Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 20 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Texas for extortion and racketeering offenses. Among the 19 who received a prison term, the median was 151 months (12.6 years), compared with a median of 30 months for this offense type across all 94 federal distric
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016– › Extortion and Racketeering: Southern District of Texas
In brief: From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 20 people were sentenced in the Southern District of Texas for extortion and racketeering offenses. Among the 19 who received a prison term, the median was 151 months (12.6 years), compared with a median of 30 months for this offense type across all 94 federal districts. All 20 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 20 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
How Long Were the Prison Terms?
Of the 20 people, 19 (95%) were sentenced to prison. One person (5%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term for the 19 was 151 months. A quarter received 311 months or more, and a quarter received 102 months or less. These are terms imposed by the court, not time actually served.
The number of people is small, so one or 2 sentences can move the median a great deal. The figures describe this group of 20 and should not be read as a pattern.
What Does This Offense Type Include?
"Extortion/Racketeering" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's own category, not a single statute. Each person is placed in a category by the main sentencing guideline that applied to the case.
The sheet lists one common primary guideline for these cases: §2B3.2 (Extortion by Force or Threat of Injury or Serious Damage), which was the primary guideline for 3 people. The remaining cases are not broken out by guideline in the records used here.
Pleas and Trials
All 20 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 90% had a written plea agreement and 10% pleaded guilty with no agreement.
Where the Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The guideline range was recorded for 12 people. For 75% (9), the sentence was within the range. For 25% (3), the sentence was below the range at the government's request.
No one in this group had a sentence below the range without a government request, and no one was sentenced above it. For all 94 districts together, sentences for this offense type were within the range 36% of the time. For all offenses in this district, the figure was 58%.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 19 people with that information recorded.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Of the 20 people, 18 (90%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 60 months. A fine was ordered for 0 (0%). Restitution was ordered for 3 (15%).
Criminal history was recorded for 8 people. Of those, 1 was in the lowest category I and 1 was in the highest (VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this detail has no military counterpart.
Year-by-Year Counts
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 6 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 14. The table lists only the years in which the records show cases, and in several years there was 1 person.
The median of 262 months in fiscal year 2022 is based on 11 people. Medians for years with 1 to 3 people describe very few cases.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 3 | 121 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2019 | 1 | 70 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2020 | 2 | 74.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 11 | 262 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
Compared With the District and the Nation
Extortion and racketeering cases were less than 1% of the 71,026 people sentenced in this district in these years. The median prison term for all offenses in the district was 13 months, and more than 99% of all people sentenced there pleaded guilty.
For this offense type across all 94 districts, 1,515 people were sentenced, 81% were sent to prison, and 95% pleaded guilty. The records cannot show what facts of each case led to a given sentence, and they do not include people whose cases ended in acquittal or dismissal.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Texas (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Texas South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Extortion/Racketeering" (20). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.